Brightsky
Brightsky is a lithe, nimble, white and ginger she-cat. Tallstar's Revenge : As a WindClan patrol goes near the RiverClan border, two pelts are noticed weaving between bushes below the border. Hareflight comments that the river must be frozen if they are hunting on land, as they will not like eating mice instead of fish. Suddenly, something runs at full pelt, not shown to be slowing down as it approaches the scent line, and the ferns swish as a rabbit hares at Talltail's nose. A she-cat explodes after it, and a tom is at her heels. RiverClan scent bathes Talltail's tongue, and he identifies the she-cat and tom as Brightsky and Piketooth. Brightsky streaks after the rabbit, and Piketooth races after her, while Talltail watches, rooted to the spot with surprise. Piketooth then chases the rabbit, and outflanks it, driving it back toward Brightsky. Her eyes gleam, and she pounces, killing it with a sharp nip to the spine. Appledawn scolds Talltail, and informs him that they are on their territory. Talltail follows Appledawn, and overtakes her, then slows as he nears the RiverClan cats. : Brightsky and Piketooth then spin around, their fur bristling, with Brightsky standing in front of her catch. Talltail blocks them from Appledawn's line of sight, and they appear to look lean and hungry, pelts dull. Talltail hisses at Brightsky to take the rabbit and go back to her own territory, and she stares at him. Talltail adds for her to hurry along, and Brightsky grabs the rabbit, fleeing back to the border, with Piketooth tearing after her. Upon of questioning why he let them go, Talltail explains that he tried to stop Piketooth and Brightsky, but they were too quick for him, and comments that they must be starving. Cloudrunner asks Appledawn what happened, and she replies that Talltail let a RiverClan hunting patrol steal their prey. Talltail replies that it is their prey, and it came from their territory, but Appledawn notes that once it crossed the border, it was WindClan's prey. Cloudrunner asks if it is true, and Talltail confirms that it is. Appledawn notes that he let them kill it on their land, but he replies that they killed it before he neared them, and that they were starving. : When Jake asks about the Clans, Talltail notes that if any other Clan crossed WindClan's border, they would shred them. Jake's eyes widen, and Talltail thinks of Brightsky and Piketooth. When he and Barkface come to RiverClan to retrieve sweet-sedge, Brightsky appears beside Piketooth, and whispers into his ear, before dipping her head to Talltail. He nods back, and thinks that he was right to let them cross the border to feed the Clan, as they returned the favor. : Crookedstar's Promise :: Brightsky is a RiverClan warrior. :: During the flooding of RiverClan's camp, she desperately tries to salvage the deteriorating warriors' den. Hailstar announces that they'll have to abandon camp, and Brightsky protests, saying they couldn't abandon everything their ancestors had built for them. Hailstar snaps that they can rebuild it, but Brightsky says it won't be the same as she tries to hold onto a nest that was floating away. Shellheart tells her that together they could rebuild anything, except cats who drowned trying to save bits of twig. Brightsky reluctantly gives in and lets the nest go, watching it spiral away. :: When it is discovered that Duskwater didn't leave camp with the rest of RiverClan, Brightsky steps forward and offers to go fetch her. After doing so, she returns, and asks if Rainflower was doing well after her kitting. Shellheart replies that she's fine, and asks if she's found Duskwater; Brightsky heavily replies that she hadn't. Shellheart then tells her to wait with the rest of the Clan as he and Brambleberry could manage Rainflower's kitting on their own. :: Brightsky, Mudfur, and Piketooth rush into camp after ThunderClan reclaim Sunningrocks. Hailstar decides not to attack the intruders right then because the flood had washed away all of Brambleberry's herbs, leaving her with no way to treat battle injuries, as well as the warriors being half-starved; almost certainly unable win a fight against ThunderClan. He sends Brightsky with Shellheart, Ottersplash, and Rippleclaw to tell the ThunderClan cats that RiverClan would take Sunningrocks back soon, but orders them not to fight. They manage to do so successfully. :: When Oakpaw is made an apprentice, Brightsky calls out his name enthusiastically with Volepaw, Petalpaw, and Timberfur. She is also present when Crookedkit comes back to the Clan after living with loners. She paces at the edge of the clearing, whispering with Lakeshine. :: She goes to the first Gathering Crookedpaw attends. He sees her walking down the frosty path, and later, once they reach Fourtrees, she says they had been the last Clan to arrive. Mudfur remarks that they hadn't been far behind ThunderClan. :: Brightsky is chosen to mentor her first apprentice: Graypaw. She, Cedarpelt, and Owlfur take their apprentices for their mandatory trip to the Moonstone. Along the way, she leads the way across the Thunderpath. At Highstones, she shares a rabbit that Willowpaw had caught, though she is reluctant to eat something generally regarded as WindClan prey. She gives Graypaw her share, commenting that the apprentice must be hungry, before starting toward Mothermouth. She teases Graypaw when she sees that she is still chewing, asking if nothing got in the way of her appetite, and if she realized she was about to meet StarClan. Brightsky follows Crookedpaw down the dark tunnel, breathing on his tail, before they cluster around the Moonstone to sleep. She wakes up at dawn beside Graypaw, and they begin the journey back home. :: She and Owlfur train Willowpaw and Graypaw at the beech copse; she is seen there in passing, instructing Graypaw. Owlfur shouts a warning before a dog that had strayed from its Twolegs attacks them. Brightsky manages to get up a tree, like Graypaw and Owlfur, but she is forced to watch in horror as the dog corners Willowpaw against the roots of a tree. Crookedpaw comes and rescues her in the nick of time, and a patrol manages to lure the dog away. Brightsky is amazed at his bravery, and says that he had jumped right onto the dog's back. :: She is seen on various occasions after this. While out hunting, Brightsky sees how many fish Crookedjaw had caught, and remarks they could all move to the elders' den, now that he was a warrior. At a Gathering later on, Brightsky and Owlfur boast about their apprentices with mentors from other Clans. She also goes out on a dawn patrol, stretching beside Shellheart as Willowpaw leads Graypaw over to them. :: She goes out on a patrol to check the bridge. She asks the patrol leader, Crookedjaw, for permission to bring Graypaw with them. They walk along carefully, fearful of Twolegs, until Brightsky sees that Graypaw has crossed the bridge to sniff the other bank, and calls for her to come back. Graypaw insists it was their territory, causing Brightsky to jokingly ask why Fallowtail hadn't raised her daughter to do as she was told. Mudfur chuckles and remarks that apprentices never did as they were told, casting a meaningful look at Crookedjaw. Suddenly, Twoleg kits appear a few tail-lengths away from Graypaw. Brightsky rushes forward, yowling at her to run. Crookedjaw stands between the Twolegs and Graypaw, snarling. Startled, the Twolegs back away long enough for Brightsky to sink her teeth into Graypaw's scruff and haul her away, again ordering her to run. They escape, and make it back to camp unscathed, though the incident causes Echomist to suggest that they shrink their borders while the Twolegs were active. Whitefang shoots the idea down immediately, though. :: Brightsky becomes pregnant with Mudfur's kits, and Piketooth takes over Graypaw's training. Soon after, though, Brightsky catches a fever, and has been struggling ever since. Mudfur tells Brambleberry that she said she was thirsty, but wouldn't drink any water. Graypaw seems to blame herself for Brightsky's illness, saying if her mentor hadn't had to rescue her, she wouldn't be sick. Crookedjaw tells her that saving Graypaw had nothing to do with her getting sick, and Brightsky had chosen to continue with her warrior duties for as long as possible. Crookedjaw is surprised that Brightsky would be kitting as soon as claw-moon, which was only a few days away. Rippleclaw sees how worried Graypaw is, and since Piketooth was busy, he takes her out training to take her mind off Brightsky. As they leave, Crookedjaw silently prays for Brightsky's recovery. :: Brightsky begins her kitting at the same time that Willowpaw and Graypaw are doing their final assessment. Mudfur paces outside the nursery, and Ottersplash tries to tell him that Brightsky and her kits would be fine. Rainflower mutters that being a tough warrior might not be enough for Brightsky to make it through. Ottersplash murmurs that Brambleberry had tried water, honey, and raspberry leaves, but nothing was helping Brightsky. :: Birdsong decides to go inside the nursery and see what was happening. She comes back out, her eyes large and grieved. She announces that Brightsky had given birth to three kits, but they were all dead. Mudfur begs to know what had happened to his mate, and Birdsong grimly tells him he had better see for himself. Mudfur slowly walks into the nursery, and a low moan comes from inside, confirming that Brightsky had indeed died. She had a fourth kit, though, a daughter, later named Leopardkit, who was born weak, but breathing. She is given to Shimmerpelt to nurse in Brightsky's absence. :: Before Willowpaw and Graypaw's warrior ceremony, Willowpaw tells Crookedjaw that she hadn't thought she would become a warrior in a current time like this. Hailstar takes the time before the ceremony to tell the Clan about Brightsky and her kits' deaths. He says that one kit had survived, and she would be treasured by the Clan as a reminder of a warrior worthy of StarClan themselves, and they would make sure she would grow up to honor and love her mother's memory. He continues that RiverClan never forgot the sacrifice of its queens, remembering how Fallowtail gave Willowpaw and Graypaw up to prevent a war between WindClan and RiverClan. :: During Crookedjaw's leader ceremony, he is delighted to see Brightsky there with her three kits in StarClan. She gives him his seventh life, along with the gift of hope, telling him to not fear the future, for it brings wonderful things.